(ThyBlackMan.com) Should people who receive government assistance in the form of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), WIC (Women Infants and Children nutritional program) via EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer Card) be drug tested? Should a positive drug test make them ineligible to receive their benefits?
At first my conclusion was a resounding yes. Why should people who are relying on government assistance be allowed to use it to buy drugs?
I’m not ashamed to admit that my opinion was formed by the very personal experience I have every time I pull into a gas station and some
ashy lipped, foul smelling man or woman is there asking for money. All I want to do is get gas, and maybe a bottle of water, and then be on my way. But now, with all of these people swarming around me with their hands out, it makes a simple task very stressful. Admittedly it is those faces that I see in my mind’s eye when I initially think about whom is benefitting the most from my hard earned dollars.
It is no wiggle room Wednesday and that’s just me keeping it real.
The problem is that, in researching this topic, I have found that it’s not this group of people that benefits most from government assistance at all. In fact it is this group that benefits the least.
Marginalizing the poor and those people we consider “less than desirable” has become the “new cool” in the today’s political climate. But the facts surrounding who benefits from government assistance the most shows that these trending voices at best are misleading and at worst are simple minded and intentionally divisive.
Government assistance directly helps those segments of society that hold the most power more in the form of lower capital gains taxes, subsidies, charitable deductions, a tax code that benefits higher salary earners, and corporate tax laws that have shielded big business from its proportionate share of the tax burden. On the other hand government assistance, when applied to the “less than”, is always portrayed as being a drain on the economy. Furthermore this group is readily portrayed as being lazy and underserving, whereas the powerful segments of society are considered smart and entitled
According to the The Congressional Budget Office, government assistance to the wealthy and upper middle class accounts for a much bigger slice of the entitlement pie than it does for the poor.
I’m not saying that we turn the tables and give the poor EVERYTHING. That’s not my argument. What I’m saying on this no wiggle room Wednesday is that we rightly condemn those loud voices that seek to further demonize that segment of society more for receiving less government assistance than the wealthy and upper middle income receive.
The groups that are floating out the idea of mandatory drug testing for this segment of society know exactly what they’re doing. They hate the poor and the marginalized. They will do anything they can to create a social boogeyman who we can all blame for this country’s economic woes.
Here’s my solution. Attach mandatory drug testing to the tax code. Those in the top income tiers should have to submit a blood test along with a signed tax form. You’re a business owner? Guilty! Breathe into this tube. Making your income from investments? You’re probably loaded right now. Blood test, urine sample and hand over that phone. Your drug dealer’s probably on speed dial. Finally, once we clean out the corporate board rooms and high powered professionals spending $300 on lunch, then anyone receiving SNAP or WIC should be tested last being that they have benefitted the least.
Let’s hear the voices that agree with THIS policy!
Staff Writer; Steven Robinson
May also visit this talented writer over at; http://noroomtowiggle.wordpress.com/.